snare heads of choice for recording?

[the_riff]

Doing a session soon and am looking to purchase some different snare heads to be prepared. What are some faves among the board?

I'm bad with names so I usually just end up going in and telling the guy behind the counter "give me the one remo head with the white circle in the middle, you know what one I'm talking about"?

I always pack a little moongel to dampen things if needed

[MichaelAlan]

The evans power center heads last a long time and are good for a fat sound. The Remo single ply crack like crazy but they don't last long and they ring alot. I like the remo's. but get a few and try to tune the same all the time.

[Dave Nutz]

i like the remo CS coated dot heads...same design as the evans head, but a little less boxy sounding.

[cgarges]

I'll second the Remo coated CS heads, although not tons of stores around here actually stock them. I also like the Renaissance Ambassadors or Emperors for "my sound," the coated Ambassadors for the generic thing, and Fiberskyn Ambassadors for a thicker, fatter sound. There also, on occasion, can be cool useage of the Remo coated Pinstripes, but it's really only on certain drums within a certain tuning range.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

[KFT]

I really like the Evans Genera Dry.

Damn.....that sounds more like a beer than a snare head!

Off to the fridge.........

[wayne kerr]

The head choice is far less important than the tuning, IMHO, but that said, I really like the Remo Power Stroke. It's internally damped and it's the perfect amount of damping, again, IMHO.

SMH

[dayvel]

As you can tell from this thread, there's no real one-size-fits-all solution. But while it doesn't seem to be anybody's favorite, no one is going to complain too much about a coated Ambassador.

[JohnDavisNYC]

a coated ambassador is kinda like the sm57 of snare heads... there might be a better head for certain applications, but a coated ambassador never lets you down, it always works and has a wide range of tuning and muffling possibilities. it's the go to.

john

[heylow]

After having tried tons of heads, I have come to the boring conclusion that my number one recording head for the 3 snares I have here is the Evans Coated G2 and the number 2 choice is the Evans Power Center Reversed Dot. They do close to the same thing....well balanced frequency spectrum with a nice punch in the low mid. I never seem to have to work real hard to tune them and I never seem to have to use anything to tame the ring like I have had to with other heads.

The HD Dry is pretty cool in certain situations too...in fact, they used to be my first choice for a while.



heylow

[Slider]

I really love the classic coated ambassador.
With this head I can get as much ring as I want.
If I want something a little drier, I always have Remo Control Sound reverse dots laying around.
It's basically the same thing as an ambassador but deader, more durable, and a little fatter sounding tuned low.
I also always use a Remo Hazy snare head on the bottom.

I avoid Aquarians and Evens on the snare drum.
The Remos are so good. I just don't get the same results out of other brands on the snare.

For Kick I'll mess around with Aquarians or evens if I need a really modern sound.

[MichaelAlan]

Toaster 3000: I lestened to the MP3's on your site. Is there a gate on the overheads on "Sun"? just wondering.

[JohnDavisNYC]

no, no gate on the overheads... our drummer has a wierd this wierd bosphorus ride which is really a jazz ride that he uses as a crash ride... it has NO sustain... wierd cymbal. 20" and paper thin.

that's an evans coated with the reverse dot, for the record, on a '66 slingerland snare.

john

[Professor]

For my tastes it's absolutely the Evans Genera Dry - that's the one with a deadringer flap mounted on the underside of the head and has the vent holes punched around the edge.
Stops those pesky rings (which also cause excess snare buzz) dead in their tracks.
But don't be mistaken, they can still have a nice controlled ping to them, but they are nice and tidy and well, dry. No need to add tape or foam or any other tone killers to the head - unless you want that muted muffled sound as an effect.
They are also a nice medium weight so they will translate well across genres and styles, and are coated for brushes should that be needed.

-Jeremy

[denial]

Evans Genera Dry & Remo Powerstroke 3: Two heads that really suck the life and tone from a drum. You may as well just put a blanket over the snare. Horrible heads. Sorry.

It's hard to go past a coated Remo Ambassador, Emperor or CS in my opinion.